1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems, processes and products for the storage and retrieval of documentary information, including: physical documents, e.g. paper or photographic documents; corresponding electro-optically generated electronic documents, e.g. digital images produced by scanning or photography; and computer generated electronic documents, e.g. digital text, tables, spreadsheets, etc. produced by word processing, optical character recognition, intelligent document recognition, and/or digital graphics produced by computer aided design.
2. Description of the Related Art
Numerous systems and processes have been proposed for the storage and retrieval of documentary information. Traditional practices over the centuries, of course, have involved storage and retrieval by manually accessing indexed arrangements of original papers and other xe2x80x9chard copiesxe2x80x9d in folders, boxes, shelving and cabinets. Later practices have involved photographically reducing the original papers to produce indexed miniaturizations in microfilm spools or microfiche sheets, storing the spools or sheets in indexed containers, folders or other physical repositories, and retrieving images or hard copies of the miniaturizations by optical projection or photographic reproduction.
Now there is a proliferation of proposals for digital computer systems that opto-electronically scan original papers or other physical documents to create electronic representations in computer memory, to store digital records of these representations in magnetic and/or optical media, and to retrieve images or hard copies corresponding to these records electro-magnetically or electro-optically. It is common experience that effective paper filing systems have required unerring care by trustworthy persons who have some understanding of the business or other activity involved. Considerable reliance often has been placed on the memory of such persons, who have a tendency to become xe2x80x9cindispensablexe2x80x9d in mission critical situations. Moreover, even a generally effective system often is not conducive to physical and logical arrangements capable of implementing prompt storage and retrieval without constant inquiries to and guidance by professional level personnel. Finally, of course, a paper file is available to only one person at a time unless hard copies are made, in which case undesired paper proliferation occurs.
Although a few, but not all, of these problems are alleviated by the use of microfilm and microfiche, new and different problems arise. It is true that a large number of photographic miniaturizations can be stored in a much smaller space than an equivalent number of original papers. However, problems of storing and retrieving containers and folders of microfilm and microfiche are not unlike problems of storing and retrieving batches of their paper counterparts. More important, producing, imaging and retrieving photographic miniaturizations often are costly procedures requiring unwieldy hardware. As a practical matter, microfilm and microfiche may be limited to archival-type documentation that may not be compatible with a dynamic work environment.
Modern advances in low cost computer architecture, particularly, faster clock speeds, higher resolution displays, and denser storage media, have generated discussions of whether or not a xe2x80x9cpaperless officexe2x80x9d is possible, and, indeed, what is the meaning of xe2x80x9cpaperless officexe2x80x9d. The difficulties mentioned above in connection with the storage and retrieval of paper documents, in a work environment, make it clear that minimization of the use of paper must be a preeminent practical objective. A critical advantage of electronic files over paper, microfilm, and microfiche files is that electronic files can be readily stored, sorted, retrieved and reorganized.
It is apparent that electronic files are capable of obviating tedious manipulation of original paper files when there may be no further need ever to refer to them. Nevertheless, despite the rapid growth of electronic filing, paper documents continue to proliferate. In many cases, reference to papers or other original physical documents, even if infrequent, may be essential. For example, original physical documents may be required or desired: (1) in litigation where particular rules of evidence may pertain; (2) as backup in the event that lost or faulty electronic images are discovered later; (3) in major commercial, financial and insurance dealings where physical signatures may be important or merely may be perceived to be important; (4) in internet transactions where the parties do not meet legal requirements for dispensing with paper signatures; (5) as backup for technical graphics, precision photographs, medical diagnostics, and the like, where differences in resolution between images and originals may become critical; (6) as backup in the event of corruption of electronic files; and (7) as complete copies of voluminous treatises in which only the table of contents and/or other selected portions may be imaged as a matter of convenience.
Another very possible reason for the continued proliferation of paper is a natural reluctance on the part of many to discard original paper files even after they have been imaged and stored in electronic media. For many, it simply may be difficult to overcome a habitual predilection to keep paper documents, and to accept the idea that electronic media, in many cases, is a secure and relatively versatile substitute. For many others, some types of paper documents, much of the time, simply are more comfortable to use, e.g. books, periodicals, etc.
Modern society demands knowledge work that is appropriate for the information age. The requirements are that: relatively low paying manual work, like filing paper documents, must be phased out; and relatively high paying knowledge work, like processing electronic documents, must be phased in. The fact is that total elimination of paper documents may be unachievable and/or undesirable. Rather, the present invention is based on clearly recognizing that there is an optimal interaction, in every commercial and technical situation, between minimizing the inherent inefficiency of storing and indexing paper documents, and maximizing the inherent efficiency of storing and indexing electronic documents.
Much confusion has been encountered in implementing systems that are based on: (1) imaged electronic documents of the type that are created by scanning or photographing paper documents and the like, (2) original paper documents themselves, and (3) computer generated electronic documents of the type that are created by word processing or graphics programs, e-mail or facsimile transmissions, and the like. The following are some of the conflicts involved: whether to store bit maps based on simple scanning, or text resulting from optical character recognition, or both; whether to mix optically generated electronic documents and computer generated electronic documents; to what extent the storage of optically generated electronic image files should mirror the storage of the original paper documents; whether or not an original paper filing system should be retained without change; whether or not a system is so sophisticated that computer literate professional level operators and/or supervisors are required; and whether or not a system is so rudimentary that even entry level operators may be sufficiently trustworthy.
The foregoing problems are greatly magnified (1) in systems dealing with law, medicine, finance, insurance, engineering and other disciplines, where difficulties may be encountered in retaining specifically knowledgeable personnel, and (2) in networked systems, where difficulties may be encountered particularly in standardizing procedures for the physical storage and retrieval of original physical paper documents, and, possibly, hard paper copies of electro-optically generated and computer generated documents, at disparate locations.
There is a requirement for systems in which the physical filing of paper documents is radically simplified, in which access to the locations of infrequently needed paper documents is precisely indicated, and in which optically generated electronic documents and computer generated electronic documents are clearly differentiated.
In order to maintain clarity, the present document adopts the following definitions:
(I) physical documents (sometimes abbreviated to physical files) are defined herein as actual paper documents or actual photographs or the like, of the type that are manually tangible and visually perceptible;
(II) electronic image documents (sometimes abbreviated to image documents or image files) are defined herein as electronic files of the type that are generated electro-optically by scanning or photographing physical documents such as actual paper documents, photographs, and the like. In one form, these electronic image documents are bitmap documents;
(III) electronic work documents (sometimes abbreviated to work documents or work files) are defined herein as electronic documents that are generated in a computer by a word processor program, a spreadsheet, a computer aided design program, e-mail, facsimile, or the like. These electronic work documents may be in such formats as xe2x80x9cpdfxe2x80x9d (portable digital format) such as that sold by Adobe Systems, Inc., or as XML (Extensible Markup Language) such as that being adopted by Microsoft Corporation and others.
(IV) electronic documents (sometimes referred to as electronic files) include electronic image documents and electronic work documents.
The primary object of the present invention is to provide, for the storage and retrieval of physical documents, electro-optically generated electronic documents, and computer generated electronic documents: systems, processes and products, which facilitate the use of electronic documents rather than physical documents whenever feasible or acceptable, and which facilitate the use of physical documents rather than electronic documents whenever necessary or preferred. The result is less individual and organizational frustration, and more creative use of time.
Pursuant to the present invention, at any isolated location or at any one or more locations in an enterprise comprising a network or group of networks: (1) newly received or generated electronic documents are simply entered at random in a sequence of date/time instances by computer generation and/or by electro-optical processing of physical documents; (2) the records of the electronic documents reference the date/time instances that constitute unique identifiers; (3) each of the physical documents is added to the beginning or the end of a cumulative stack in which its location is indicated by its date/time instance; and (4) the electronic documents are processed and organized to provide the electronic equivalent of virtual files that include related physical and electronic documents.
A preferred embodiment of the present invention includes a physical system and an electronic system. The physical system is characterized by a primary physical repository and a plurality of secondary physical repositories therein or thereon, which hold selected sequences of physical documents corresponding to selected ranges of the date/time instances. The selected ranges of the sequences of physical documents are contained by selected ones of the secondary physical repositories. The selected ones of the secondary physical repositories are visually marked with physical indicia corresponding to the selected ranges of the date/time instances. The electronic system is characterized by electronic tables, each representing a grid containing rows of electronic records and columns of electronic fields, the electronic fields including a plurality of primary (or ONE or key) electronic fields, and a plurality of secondary (or MANY or non-key) electronic fields. One of the primary fields includes date/time entries that uniquely designate corresponding logical groups of physical documents and corresponding logical groups of electronic documents. These date/time entries designate the precise physical locations of the corresponding physical documents. The secondary fields include other entries that designate other corresponding logical groups of physical documents and electronic documents. Such other groups of physical documents, in effect, are virtual groups of physical documents.
The result is an interactive combination of electronic records, which specify the precise physical locations of selected physical documents in terms of their date/time instances. Thus, selected logical groups of physical documents are virtual collections that are intermingled throughout the secondary repositories in a manner that does not permit them to be immediately available for physical compilation. On the other hand, such virtual collections correspond to selected logical groups of electronic images that are immediately available for electronic compilation and presentation.